Verminous Skumm
Verminous Skumm is one of the Eco-Villains. He is a large, humanoid, mutant rat, born and raised in a sewer. Skumm is determined to take over the Earth. Biography Virtually nothing is known about Skumm's origins or early life, except a quote from Gaia that he was "born and raised in toxic waste". It's plausible that he was once a normal rat who was radically mutated by toxic materials into a sentient humanoid. However, it is known that an entire race of these rat creatures exists, and Skumm is their unquestioned leader. His single most important long-term goal is actually to displace humans and have his own race dominate Earth with himself as leader, and his methods revolve around targeting human health and safety. Despite this hostility toward humans, he is not above working with them for his own ends; he has teamed up with the other Eco-Villains many times in the past. Nevertheless, he is one of the most dangerous and vile Eco-Villains due to his tendency to directly target humans rather than ecology. Perhaps most notably, he was responsible for creating the drug Bliss in the episode Mind Pollution. In the episode, Linka became addicted to the drug and her cousin Boris died of an overdose. Personality The appropriately-named Verminous Skumm is a humanoid rat-man who, despite being far less powerful than the aforementioned Zarm, manages to be just as evil. Taking a sick pleasure in the polluted and festering, Skumm's schemes vary from willingly endangering and trying to destroy entire cities, and include deliberately trying to destroy an entire city with a cloud of acid rain and flooding Venice with oversized, carnivorous rats; peddling mind-altering drugs and even murdering Linka's cousin Boris through them; attempting to bait two sides of the Arab–Israeli Conflict into using a nuclear bomb in Jerusalem Mount, and doing the same thing in The Troubles and apartheid South Africa; and attempting to flood the entire world with his "Rat Rot" chemical to turn everyone into his mutated rat slaves. Skumm's end goal is to destroy the civilized world and enslave what remains to his mutated Rat Men followers to rule over them all as a king. Happily admitting "I'm ignorance; I'm fear; I'm hate" and taking delight in everything from ruining the life of a single person—a teenager with AIDS—for giggles, to the attempted annihilation of millions of lives, Skumm stands out as the darkest of the recurring Eco-Villains due to his propensity to target people rather than the environment. Appearance Skumm wears tattered and dirty clothing - a blue jumpsuit that is torn and dishevelled, and a red scarf wound around his head and face. He often hides in shadows or covers his face. He favours the underground. He was originally voiced by actor Jeff Goldblum. After five episodes, Goldblum left the role and was replaced by voice actor Maurice LaMarche. Sidekick(s) Skumm has an army of rats at his disposal. Some are enormous and clothed, like him, but he is also able to communicate and control the regular rat population. Significant Episodes *''Rain of Terror'' *''Don't Drink the Water'' *''The Hate Canal'' *''Mind Pollution'' *''Skumm Lord'' *''The Big Clam-Up'' *''A Formula for Hate'' *''If It's Doomsday This Must Be Belfast *''Mission to Save Earth Part I'' *''Mission to Save Earth Part II'' *''Summit to Save Earth Part I'' *''Summit to Save Earth Part II'' *''Talkin' Trash'' *''Bug Off'' *''Nothing's Sacred'' *''Who's Running the Show?'' Quotes *Hey, you! Get off of my cloud! **''Rain of Terror'' *The pollution scheme of the century! Bah, skumbug! **''Don't Drink the Water'' *Save the Earth! Bah, skumbug. **''Summit to Save Earth Part I'' *Toxics! **''Mission to Save Earth Part I'' *One more mountain lake wasted. **''Don't Drink the Water'' *"I'm ignorance! I'm fear! I'm hate!" * A Formula for Hate Trivia *Skumm is the first villain to be responsible for a personal loss by one of the Planeteers, and the only Eco-Villain that upset Captain Planet to the point of losing his sense of humor for a dramatic justice on two occasions. Gallery skummdontdrinkthewater01.jpg Missiontosaveearthone019.jpg Missiontosaveearthone028.jpg Missiontosaveearthone034.jpg Missiontosaveearthone032.jpg Missiontosaveearthone036.jpg Category:Villains Category:Characters Category:Mutants